Law firm trolling for clients.
The IRS has agreed not to make online tax filing free as long as tax preparation companies, such as TurboTax and H&R Block, provided free services to taxpayers who make less than $66,000.
As part of the agreement, the companies are supposed to promote the free filing option to qualifying taxpayers.
According to a lawsuit filed by the City of Los Angeles, TurboTax and H&R Block intentionally prevented customers from using the free filing option.
Both TurboTax and H&R Block reportedly hid the free filing options even when they knew the customer qualified for free filing based on their answers. A former TurboTax manager explained, “[t]he entire strategy is make sure people read the word ‘free’ and click our site and never use” an actually free product."
